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The handsome man was sweating so hard one droplet was gliding down the bridge of his nose.

Remembering her earlier conversations with Macy and Katie, Emma struggled with the idea of taking a chance at allowing the emptiness inside her heart to be filled again. Yet, if she was going to live, it would have to be a life worth living.

“Okay,” she said.

“Cool. Cool,” Juan said, obviously relieved. “Great. Awesome. Though I’m not sure how you date in the zombie apocalypse.”

“Go kill zombies together?”

“Then we already had a first date!”

“Or maybe it’s just sitting here for a while.”

Juan grinned at her while she took another bite of her hamburger. “Okay. That sounds great.”

So that was what they did.

They were interrupted an hour later.

“Fort meeting! Lobby in five minutes!” a teenager’s voice called out.

A second later, the girl appeared near the memorial. “Fort meeting! Five minutes!”

“We’ll be there, Shelley,” Juan called.

With a nod, the girl dashed off.

“Does this happen a lot?” Emma asked.

Looking somber, Juan nodded. “When shit’s about to go down.”

“So something is up?”

Nervously running his hands through his messy curls, Juan grimaced. “I knew the Fort meeting was going to happen. It was actually a big reason I wanted to talk to you at dinner. When you weren’t there, I came looking for you because I wanted to have a moment of peace before shit got real. Again.”

“Oh?” “After we were certain that there is a cause for concern, Travis decided to share some news with everyone tonight.”

It now made sense why Travis and Katie had come downstairs with Bryce. It was a way of softening the coming blow.

“Is this about Ed’s group?”

Folding his arms over his chest, Juan nodded. “There was more than one group that left. One was led by a woman named Mary. A real hellfire and brimstone type. She was convinced we were being punished with the horde because we had gay people in the Fort. When she and her people left, they formed what they called the Baptist Encampment. Though between you and me, her vision of being a Baptist ain’t one I’m familiar with.”

“Like those Westboro people?”

“Exactly.”

“So Ed’s group went to the Baptist Encampment?”

“No, Ed’s group was heading northwest and got turned back by armed militia-types. Kurt said they had the road blocked off and were heavily armed with military-grade weapons. According to Belinda, who was in Ed’s Durango, they wouldn’t let Ed’s group through the blockade. Ed told them about the horde, but the man in charge didn’t give a shit. He sent them back the way they’d come, which is why they ended up running into the horde. They lost half their people right away. Ed got bit while trying to run with Belinda from his overrun vehicle to the one Kurt was driving. When they realized they were heading right for the main part of the horde, they took refuge on top of that hill.”

“Shit. So why didn’t they let them through the barricade?”

“This is the kicker, Em. The guy in charge was Mary’s son, Jonathan. Jon was Special Ops overseas and got kicked out for killing civilians. He claimed it was an accident, but his own guys turned him in, saying he did it ‘cause he liked it. Apparently, he’d been doing it on the sly and his guys had had it with him. Said Jon wanted to kill Muslims for Jesus, or some such bullshit.”

Emma winced. “I’m pretty sure Jesus was a pacifist.”

“That’s what my bible says too, but it don’t matter with Mary and her type. Worse yet, word around town was that Jon was always a sociopath. A bully at heart, power hungry. His dishonorable discharge and the local rumors are why they wouldn?